Waltzing the Night Away
by Blue-eyes Lily
Summary: Nessarose danced with Boq. Now that he left her, dreams are all she has left. Dreams, fortunately, can be altered to suit certain people hopes and dreams.


Waltzing the Night Away

**Author's Note: Right, just a soppy, too sweet little Bessa fic, just after Boq leave, Title from the "Shins" album "Wincing the Night Away". Hope you like it. Please read and review.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked, and the title isn't really mine either. Idea and text, however, are all mine. As you see, I won practically nothing (how sad am I?)**

"Boq?" Her voice sounded strangely unfamiliar in her ears. A clear, crystal ringing, echoing through the halls. Nessarose was on her own. She only realized it at that moment, standing alone in her study. Everyone was dead, or gone, but what was the difference to her? A lonely soul cannot always tell. Dead and gone, it meant the same after all. She herself felt distanced from the world right then, as though she herself was gone- or dead, however one put it.

She turned around to her mirror. It was instinct, really, and she meant nothing by it. But as she caught sight of her sunken eyes, pinched face and the river-like lines her tears had drawn into her face, her immediate reaction was to scream at her haggard looking reflection. What had she done? What had she done to everyone that she had ever cared about? On the other hand, what had they done to her?

She tried to clear her mind as best she could. Her eyes wandered down to her shoes. The jewelled shoes that had been presented to her by her father. The shoes that her sister had enchanted. The shoes that should have made Boq love her. They had given her the ability to walk. Nessa tried to kick them off. She was proud of them; they made her feel happy and worthwhile. But she detested them all the same. But, to her horror, they would not come off. The harder she kicked, the tighter they became around her small feet, cutting deep welds into them. Nessa sucked in a breath of air and shivered. She could hardly stand anymore.

She decided that the best and possibly only thing for her to do was to sleep. Sleep, she had found, was the best medicine and comfort for a broken heart. Nessa stumbled into her bedroom. It was not that she couldn't walk, indeed, the shoes not only moved her feet for her, but gave her excellent balance as well, but when filled with sadness, it is often harder to stay upright than otherwise.

Once in her room, she stripped off her dress, fumbling with the buttons on her chest. The dress fell around her ankles as she reached behind her to undo her tight corset. Fashion would be her death someday. Corsets were so horribly tight. Eventually, after much finger work, she managed to loosen the treacherous thing. Unable to remove her socks or shoes, she slipped on her nightgown and climbed under the covers. It felt so wonderful to go to bed without half a dozen maids at her heels, or wheels as it would have been. She had so much more privacy and didn't feel exposed to the world every time she wanted to get dressed.

The clock in the corner read seven o'clock, but she didn't care about the time. All she wanted was to sleep. Sleep and dream, of a world far, far away, where there was no trouble.

_Nessarose wheeled into the Ozdust ballroom, her pink dress lying flat over her knees, not swishing playfully around like the dresses of the other girls. She was alone, not the other young women who all had at least one boy to dance with, apart from Crope and Tibbet, who each had a boy to dance with. Then Boq arrived. He was strolling casually up to her, not smiling, but looking pityingly at her. Oh, would he be surprised. _

_"Nessarose," he said, almost coldly. _

_"Would you like to dance, Boq?" he answer evidently surprised him. He took a step backwards. _

_"Dance?"_

_"Yes, dance Boq."_

_The bewildered look on his face told her that she should better show him exactly what she meant. Resting her hands on the armrests of her detested chair, she slowly pushed herself up from her sitting position. Boq's expression was one of utter astoundment. When the colour returned to his face again, however, his lips curled up into a handsome smile._

_"I suppose," he said, his voice deeper than usual," that dance, then, we must." _

_He took her softly into his arms and waltzed to the music, and there was no nicer place for her to be, she was sure. _

Nessa awoke abruptly, when her toe bumped against an object in the dark. She was standing in front of her armoire, right arm stretched out , left arm bent, almost like her hand was resting on a shoulder. Her feet, unbeknownst to her, were still moving in a waltzing step.


End file.
